Hi all, I've been using white grease for lube when repacking hydraulic cylinders. I got to thinking..is there something more slippery? What are you guys using?
Hydraulic fluid, applied liberally. Engine oil works well too, I don't use grease because it seems to make o-ring seals want to "roll out" of the groove.
I usually give everything a good coating of clean hyd oil, a great big bath, on the seals and reach in the barrel and smear it around.
I've seen a lot of guys use "cooking oil".. its cheap & easy to get.. & u don't cry when u dump it over.. Lol
I keep an oil can with 90 gear oil that I use for assembling everything that could do with a bit of lube except engine internals and paper gaskets .
I dont use it for hydraulic pumps or valves either .
I like to use a product called Door-Ease (its in a stick form approx. 1" dia. and approx. 3" long) and then after applying that, coat it with Lubriplate . these products are convenient to use out on field jobs and don't take up much space. the two products together seem to be more slippery than each one alone (in my opinion). basically, its what-ever works best in your situation
I used Vaseline for years, petroleum base mixes well in the hydraulic oil and being surface applied just prior to installation tends not to roll up seals.
What worked best for me over the years was putting a ring compressor over the seals on the piston and compressing them for about ten minutes before installing in the cylinder. As for the seals in the gland I've only used the type of oil that is normally used in the system. The super slick stuff didn't make the gland go on the rod any easier but made it hard to hold and push the gland on straight. I know a lot of guys that used Lubriplate but I found it messy and always wondered about its compatibility with the oils in the systems. Probably the biggest problems I've seen with assembling cylinders is people not replacing the bushings in the gland.
OR updating the gland by installing bushing (requires machining the gland for a bushing)
I just picked up a bottle of Cat low friction hydraulic book additive. We'll see how that works.
I always use Parker 0-lube on seals. Its thick and tacky, I assume its stays in the seal grooves longer, like in cylinder heads where rust likes to creep in. I add hydraulic oil to the piston and head before assembly. There are times where the piston does not want to go into the barrel because its a tight fit with the new seals. Ill then apply a little wd40/or something similar to the piston which helps, wd40 is very thin and slick.
+1 for lubriplate. like john c said a ring compressor works wonders. i do do a few wraps of tape around the seal just to ensure the compressor dosent damage the seals.